The common stereotype that eating disorders exist only among thin, white young females is false. Anyone can experience disordered eating and eating disorders, no matter their size, race, age, or gender. Anyone struggling with eating disorders is just as deserving of proper diagnosis, care, and recovery.
By: Irene Schultz
Margo Maine, author of The Body Myth: Adult Women and the Pressure to be Perfect, states middle-aged people are often invisible in the field of eating disorders. However, this age group has shown the most significant increase in eating disorder diagnoses over recent years. Dr. Lauren Muhleim explains, “Many women and men don’t stop worrying about weight and shape as they age. The fact is that eating disorders are equal opportunity offenders, crossing cultural boundaries and leaping the borders of age and gender.”
Yet, medical and mental health professionals rarely ask adults and seniors about their eating habits, exercise, body image, or weight control issues. They seem to think older people are immune to the societal pressures to conform to an ideal beauty standard. However, eating disorders are not simply about weight and size but often develop as a coping mechanism for deeper emotional wounds and psychological traumas. Many people in their mid-40s describe their eating disorder as a coping tool to face the overwhelming duties of parenthood, career responsibilities, marriage trouble, and so on.
Despite the high prevalence in all people, adult clients are more likely to go undiagnosed and ignored in the doctor’s office because of the stereotype that eating disorders belong only to young girls. Often there is a lot more shame in having an ED at an older age. People can feel like a burden if they ask for help. Research shows that middle-aged adults suffer the same psychopathology, distress, and impairment as young people diagnosed with clinical anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating disorder. Their pain and suffering are just as life-altering and deserve to be taken seriously.
Still, medical providers and mental health professionals fail to assess the physical and psychosocial experiences unique to adult development. Thus, there is a high risk for eating disorders in adulthood and complex barriers to accessing proper treatment.
Even more disturbing is the lack of eating disorder research, diagnosis, treatment, and recovery for BIPOC communities and people living in other marginalized communities and bodies. In her thesis article, Alexa Riobueno-Naylor explains that overwhelmingly, people of color and other marginalized groups have been left out of our conversations and understanding of eating disorders. By centering white, young, female-identifying people, we do not clearly understand the breadth and scope of eating disorders. There is so much more work to be done to include those who have not been historically included in the conversation and to center their experiences.
Everyone, regardless of age, color, race, gender, sexuality, or identity, can experience and be affected by eating disorders. Research, diagnosis, and treatment should be tailored to each individual’s unique challenges. It is imperative to create public awareness that eating disorders do not discriminate. No one should be afraid to seek treatment because they don’t fit society’s mold of the typical eating disorder client.
At BALANCE eating disorder treatment center™, our compassionate, highly skilled team of clinicians is trained in diagnosing and treating the spectrum of eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, compulsive overeating, and other disordered eating behaviors and body image issues. BALANCE offers a bi-monthly free virtual support group open to individuals seeking help and to family and loved ones. The group provides a supportive forum within which members can explore issues, including ambivalence about engaging in treatment, recovery, resources, and treatment options, and knowing when and how to take the next steps toward making change. RSVP for our next group here.
Our admissions team would be happy to answer any questions you may have about our programs and services. Book a free consultation call with our admissions team below, or read more about our philosophy here.
Looking for eating disorder treatment programs or services in the New York City area? Learn more about our options at BALANCE eating disorder treatment center™ here or contact us here.
This post was written by BALANCE Blog Contributor, Irene Schultz (she/her).
Irene is a professional dancer/actress based in Manhattan, NYC. She holds a B.F.A. in Commercial Dance and a B.A. in English/Writing from Pace University. Growing up in the arts and entertainment industry, with its extreme focus on thinness, Irene experienced and witnessed firsthand the detrimental effects of toxic diet culture. Irene completed her M.Ed. in Health Education and Promotion at Plymouth State University, where she was enrolled in the Eating Disorders Institute, the only graduate program in the world approved by the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (IAEDP), and the nation’s only eating disorder specialist certificate program of it’s kind. When she is not onstage performing, Irene enjoys hiking, swimming, traveling, cooking, doing yoga, cuddling with her cat, and helping other artists and individuals heal their relationship with food and their bodies. She is excited to combine her passions for eating disorder recovery and writing by contributing to the Balance blog.
References
Riobueno-Naylor, A. (1970, January 1). “not just a white woman’s disease”: Radicalizing eating disorder knowledge. Wellesley College Digital Repository. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://repository.wellesley.edu/object/ir836
Lauren Muhlheim, PsyD. “What Are Midlife Eating Disorders?” Verywell Mind, Verywell Mind, 16 Aug. 2021, https://www.verywellmind.com/midlife-eating-disorders-4177137.
Maine, Margot. “Invisible Women: Eating Disorders at Midlife.” Gurze Eating Disorders
Resource Catalogue, 2022. pp. 18. Salucore, LLC.
